Daniel Radcliffe Won’t Star as Freddie Mercury in Biopic

When it was announced earlier this summer that Sacha Baron Cohen would no longer play Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic, rumors began to surface as to who would play the rock star. Earlier this week reports claimed that Daniel Radcliffe, best known for his role as Harry Potter, was offered the part, but the actor discussed the rumors in an interview with Empire Online.

"There is no truth to it at all," Radcliffe said. "It's one of those very, very funny things -- it came out of a story in the Daily Star and then you see newspapers like The Guardian using The Star as their source, and it grows and grows [until] it's 'Dan Radcliffe is playing Freddie Mercury,' which I was never going to do."

"Everyone on the internet who I presume is saying I’m totally wrong for that part is correct," Radcliffe, who has been a supporter of LGBT rights in the past, added. "I am completely wrong for that part."

On Monday the British newspaper the Daily Star reported that a source said Radcliffe "has the part if he wants it."

Earlier this summer it was announced Cohen was off the project. While some sources cited that creative differences between the actor and the members of Queen led to Cohen’s departure, Roger Taylor, the classic rock band’s drummer, told Mojo on Monday, "We felt Sacha probably wasn’t right in the end. We didn’t want it to be a joke. We want people to be moved."

Daniel Radcliffe is happy if his Potter fame conjures up interest for what he wants to do with the rest of his career, such as his bold turn as young gay poet Allen Ginsberg in the Sundance premiere "Kill Your Darlings."